Adelaide Zoo
The Adelaide Zoo is one of South Australia’s major tourist attractions and a must-visit destination for families with children of all ages. Situated within a 15 minute walk of the City of Adelaide, the Zoo is located alongside the beautiful Botanic Park and Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Young children take absolute delight in visiting the zoo, their excitement when looking at and listening to animals they don’t see every day is priceless. Older children are able to look and learn, ask questions and participate in educational programs run throughout the year.
Adelaide Zoo has a focus on endangered and rare animals
Adelaide Zoo’s focus is on endangered and rare animals from continents such as South America, India, Africa and Australia (also South East Asia). With such an important educational facility on our doorstep, a day at the zoo is a wonderful experience no family should miss.
Adelaide Zoo’s Animals
Adelaide Zoo is home to over 1,800 animals and almost 300 species of exotic and native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and fish. The zoo’s animals are exhibited in 8 hectares of picturesque botanic surroundings, maintained by the zoo’s dedicated horticulture department. They not only look after the grounds and gardens but also create and maintain the naturalistic exhibits in all of the zoo’s enclosures.
At Adelaide Zoo you’ll see crowd favourites such as the giraffes, lions and tigers, the orangutans and meerkats to name just a few.
The Giant Pandas at Adelaide Zoo
The Giant Panda exhibit is home to Wang Wang and Funi – the only Giant Pandas in the Southern Hemisphere. We are very fortunate in Adelaide to have these two incredible animals here to visit and to see them up close truly is a magical experience. This modern exhibit includes two outdoor areas and an indoor viewing area.
Adelaide Zoo’s Variety Children’s Zoo
The Variety Children’s Zoo opened in September 2019 and is an amazing interactive play space designed for children of all abilities. It is situated right beside Nature’s Playground and the aerial walkway has also been extended to link children to the area. You can still feed the goats from behind a fence and get up close to a range of other animals.
Read more about the new Variety Children’s Zoo here.
Special Experiences at Adelaide Zoo
The zoo offers a range of special experiences, such as Behind the Scenes Tours, Brief Animal Encounters, Wild Nights Sleepovers, Walkabout Tours and Wildlife Tours. Please note that some wildlife experiences are currently suspended due to COVID-19. Find out more about these experiences here. Adelaide Zoo is also a great spot for birthday parties.
Keeper Talks & Animal Feeding Sessions
Zookeepers provide daily animal feeds and keeper talks at the Zoo, so it’s a good idea to plan your day around these times. You’ll receive a pamphlet when you enter the zoo with all the details. It’s a great way for kids to interact with the keepers and learn new facts about specific animals. Be sure to check what’s available each day. Some zookeeper presentations include the following:
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Sea Lion Feed
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Flying Colours Free-Flight Experience
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Sumatran Tiger
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Penguins
- Giant Panda
- South-East Asia Birds
- Wildshow Animal Experience
- Lion Feed
- Orangutan
Picnic Spots, Food Options & Facilities at Adelaide Zoo
The Adelaide Zoo surroundings include numerous picnic and rest areas throughout the gardens making it easy to sit down and enjoy a packed lunch or snack. There’s the lovely historic undercover rotunda which can also be hired out for events.
For hungry tummies there are a number of outlets where you can purchase meals and snacks. Wisteria Restaurant is open from 9.00am until 4.30pm every day of the year and can be accessed from both inside and outside the zoo. Fig Tree Café is located in the centre of the zoo and offers a range of different snack and lunch options as well as hot and cold drinks.
The zoo has eftpos and ATM facilities, disabled access and lockers for hire. For little ones, there’s also pusher hire available – the Zoobaru. These brightly coloured cars are great for young children who tire easily walking around.
Adelaide Zoo’s Nature Playground
Read the Play & Go review of the Nature Playground here.
Adelaide Zoo School Holiday Program
During the school holidays, additional animal interactive and children’s activities are offered, along with all-day holiday programs. Activities include talks, demonstrations, various entertainment and activity trails.
Adelaide Zoo Shop
The Zoo is owned and operated by the Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, making Adelaide Zoo the only major metropolitan Zoo in Australia to be owned and operated by a not for profit organisation and governed by a volunteer board on behalf of its members.
If you’re looking for a souvenir on your way home, the Zoo shop is located at the zoo entrance and stocks a wide range of animal soft toys, clothing, gifts, games, toys and books. Proceeds from the shop’s sales help to fund the zoo’s work.
Adelaide Zoo App
You can now download the Adelaide Zoo’s new free app which has an interactive map with information about the zoo, its animals and conservation work.
Location:
Frome Road, Adelaide (or enter from Plane Tree Drive)
Open 9.30am – 5.00pm every day of the year.
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Adelaide Zoo website.
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. All photos are by Play & Go.
Image Source: photos by Play & Go Adelaide
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